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Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
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Eric Northman is mine
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
Fav Quentin Move has to be Kill Bill. Women kicking ass and taking names. Daryl Hannah totally shed that good girl image, Lucy Liu was just fucking fierce and Uma was downright wicked. However, it's as though Quentin gets boners for violence and gore, his movies would be just as good if if cut out some of the crap. I'm not really squeamish but most of his movies have that ick factor.
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picardia
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
IMHO, when Tarantino's on, he's incredible; when he's off, he's abysmal. This looks like it's in the second category. I guess I will just have to go see hotass Chris Pine and Zach Quiinto Star Trek again.
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lolacat
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
This is why I will see this movie:

1. Tarantino.
2. BJ Novak.
3. Samm Levine.

Just seeing Ryan and Neil play big boys is enough for me.
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battleaxonista...is a humorless bitch
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
Tarantino is the movies as SWINTON is to fashion. 99% of the populace will simply never understand when they are totally on their game, or totally fuck it up. And even when they fuck up at least it's interesting .
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counterclockwise's using her promoting-power for good
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
Til Schweiger is in it. That's reason enough not to watch it...
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Dadadarling
05/20/09

@counterclockwise would vote for Jed Bartlet: This makes this the first Tarantino movie my mother is going to watch. Oh.
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counterclockwise's using her promoting-power for good
05/20/09

@Dadadarling: My mother might want to watch it because of Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson. And probably also for the gruesome violence...

I might reconsider my first statement after I read that August Diehl and Daniel Brühl are also in the movie.
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Awakeonatrain
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
This kind of feedback really seals the narrative of Tarantino's career, at least for me. The more and more he aspires to re-create the Grindhouse films he loved in his youth, the more these films embody the spirit of those kinds of movies- soulless, trashy, pastiche. His movies were always inspired by Grindhouse, but they were "above" that influence in some way and they had heart, intelligence, a really literate quality, and it doesn't hurt that Tarantino is a damn good writer. He was never the pastiche hack his detractors portrayed him as, but slowly that's been stripped away from his films- they're just shlock without merit, as heartless as the movies he loves.
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emilyanne
05/20/09

@Awakeonatrain: awesome analysis. I actually like Resevoir Dogs best of his films because it's the least self-conscious in many ways.
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Fridge Hussy : Is finally heading back to uni!
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
I loves me some Tarantino, but I can't get behind a movie that expects the audience to delight in wartime torture. It doesn't matter if they're Nazis, I'm still not going to sit through it.
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Easybreezy
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
This looks atrocious.

It really irritates me that Tarantino, a "master" of stylized violence, would choose a topic like WWII (an era with so much actual bloodshed and suffering) as the backdrop to his fantasy violence. Completely disregarding the ACTUAL atrocities of the time in favor of some equally gory fantasy version seems so arrogant and disrespectful to me.
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Fridge Hussy : Is finally heading back to uni!
05/20/09

@Easybreezy: See my comment below. To me, he may as well have made a fucking videogame out of it while he's at it. Ugh.
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Easybreezy
05/20/09

@Fridge Hussy : Das Tigerbaby: Exactly. Glad I'm not alone!
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baraqiel
05/20/09

@Easybreezy: Actually, I think that's a good thing. There are respectful, mournful WWII movies all the time, and mostly I think they're boring and unoriginal (not the subject matter, but as pieces of art). WWII, for all of its painfulness and tragedy, is part of the history of our world and as such it's fair game to be played around with. I don't think he's trying to make light of the era, exactly, but he's trying to tell a different story about it than the one we normally hear, and I support that.
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Fridge Hussy : Is finally heading back to uni!
05/20/09

@baraqiel: By cutting "The Gerrys" up in increasingly creative ways?
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baraqiel
05/20/09

@Fridge Hussy :STOP ACTING LIKE YOU HAVEN'T SEEN A TITTY BEF...: Well, if that's all the movie was, then that'd be pretty boring too, but I've seen a lot of Tarantino and I'm pretty sure there's more to the film than that. If nothing else, apparently there's a whole lot of dialog. The man has a sense of humor.
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J.D.Regent
05/20/09

@Easybreezy: I agree this is really problematic. I think there is room for sarcasm and humor in the representation of atrocity, but it has to be done in a really really really smart way. I'll reserve judgment until I see it but erasing history and turning the Holocaust into an apolitical cartoon does not seem to be the way to do it.
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baraqiel
05/20/09

@J.D.Regent: See, now that's the interesting part, I read this as being not about the Holocaust but about WWII. The two are interlinked but separate historical phenomena. I think humor can be brought to war, and that to do so can be very productive and interesting as well as entertaining. But genocide? I am dubious that anyone is smart and witty enough to do an entire comedic movie about that.
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Benevolent_Dictatrix (patently absurd)
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
I can't watch hyper-violent movies. I understand Tarantino is supposed to be a genius, but after seeing Resevoir Dogs I realized I am a baby and find gruesome movie violence really upsetting.
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Easybreezy
05/20/09

@Benevolent_Dictatrix (patently absurd): I'm with you. I cannot believe that there is such a demand for hyper-violence in cinema. Do people not have enough actual pain and suffering in their lives? UGH. It's so perfect that Tarintino is BFF with the Hostel director. I'm sure they have a great time together.
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lolacat
05/20/09

@Benevolent_Dictatrix (patently absurd): Normally, I find ultra-violence disturbing as well. For me, however, I find that the "stylization" and the fantasy quality to Taratino violence is sufficiently removing to watch most of his movies. I still have to look away at times.

However, I agree. He is not a basic flavor. For some reason, I find I enjoy his films more often than not.
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somedisaster
05/20/09

@Benevolent_Dictatrix (patently absurd): Yeah, I really don't care for the kind of hyperviolence that directors like Tarantino, Zack Snyder, etc. use in their movies. I understand that it's a stylistic choice, but there's something that kind of bothers me that it's a stylistic choice employed mostly by white male directors, who are probably the least likely people to actually experience this kind of violence. I'm not actually exactly sure how to phrase my critique of it- it's just off to me, somehow.
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lolacat
05/20/09

@somedisaster: I absolutely get your critique. First for full disclosure, I am not some great champion of Tarantino. However, you are right- ultra-violence has long been the province of the young male director. I'll leave the race correlative aside because I'm not sure that is true - I'm pretty sure I've seen some whoppers directed by black directors. It may simply be the institutional racism of the studio system.

Anyway, I always feel like I shouldn't like Tarantino becausee of his violence. As if I'm acting barbaric. I don't play GTA. I hate straight-torture movies like Hostel and Saw... But Tarantino just has something extra that puts his violence into an artistic expression that I understand. He puts the ballet into violence, as it were.
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somedisaster
05/20/09

@lolacat (aka Bob Graham's scalp medication): Definitely. I don't want to argue that there is no merit to the specific films Tarantino is making, because I agree that there's probably a lot of artistic merit behind the choices he makes in using stylized violence (I'm too squeamish to watch most of it, though). I do find it troubling in a systemic context, though- from what I can tell, 99% of the directors employing this stylized hyperviolence are men, who are stastically the most likely group to be perpetuating violence in real life (often against women, POC, LBGTQI people, homeless people, etc.), and whose privilege often protects them against repercussions.
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lolacat
05/20/09

@somedisaster: I agree. In a systemic context, there is a line between exploitation or glorification of violence and an artistic musing, for lack of a better word. And because it is something as base as violence, the fact that there is a line is a little uncomfortable to consider. Again, when it is almost entirely men who are attracted to creating this kind of "art" - that, too, is disturbing. A lot of directors, and video games and the entire media system, use violence as a titillation without once looking at it critically.

I think my Tarantino Line, much like the Maginot Line, is that I find his musings to be about film rather than about actual violence. He glorifies fiction and very obviously fiction. It is a fine distinction but one I find that Tarantino is capable of pulling off. Which is a testament to his talent. As a watcher of war movies that glorify the Allies, I'm really interested in how this one is going to work.
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roodles
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
Jackie Brown is his best film IMHO. It's not too flashy or Tarantino-esque. It's just good storytelling.
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birminghamdrunk
05/20/09

@roodles: agreed as well. i love the delfonics, lord have mercy.
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dirtybee
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
I thought most of Tarantino's success didn't necessarily apply to what critics thought?
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lolacat
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
Well... I never trust the critics when it comes to a Tarantino film. His movies are just too Tarantino-esque to be judged. It has taken me years to figure out why I love Kill Bill. The guy works in a vacuum of good taste and sanity that, for some bizzaro reason, works for me.
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Hamsterpants
05/20/09

@lolacat (aka Bob Graham's scalp medication): Part of me hates me for loving his movies so much. Especially the Bills and DeathProof.
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NerD: Blattella
05/20/09

@lolacat (aka Bob Graham's scalp medication): I like Kill Bill because it set everything up for Kill Bill 2. I like the dialogue in that one as much as the violence in the second one.

I also loved Death Proof. I liked that one a lot.
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baraqiel
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
As far as I'm concerned, Quentin Tarantino won the right to do whatever he pleases with the, "English, motherfucker! Do you speak it?!" scene in Pulp Fiction. That is one of my favorite scenes in all of film.

Note: this right also extends to Samuel L. Jackson.
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olivia2.0
05/20/09

@baraqiel: Thank god for that last bit. But, I have to ask, even with that worthy quote, is Snakes on a Plane forgivable? Or is the line "snakes on a mutha'fucking plane" just more reason for SLJ to do whatever he likes?
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baraqiel
05/20/09

@olivia2.0: That movie is awesome, but you have to watch it for what it is: total camp. They didn't set out to make something of quality, they set out to make something that was 100% over the top absurd, and oh man did they succeed.
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roodles
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
As a QT (and Eli Roth) fan, this trailer looked abysmal to even me. I'll wait until it comes out on DVD. He's been working on this script for a looooong time though - before Kill Bill started filming - so to hear that it sucks is pretty disappointing.
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Samanthrax
05/20/09

In reply to Inglourious Basterds Is "No Masterpiece" According To Critics
Um, what? The goddamned trailer is a masterpiece. I can't wait.
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